The following invention relates to a material handling system and, in particular, to a material handling system for handling large industrial drums of material such as steel fifty-five gallon drums.
Many industrial materials such as various chemicals, oils and solvents are stored typically in fifty-five gallon drums. These drums are extremely heavy and their handling is cumbersome and dangerous. Typically, fifty-five gallon drums are stored on palettes. Further, the drums are lifted and transported by the use of forklifts. The barrels frequently have to be carried and hoisted by hand as well, and the weight frequently creates back injuries. It is also difficult to maneuver the barrels from the floor where they are usually upright (so that they do not roll) to the pallets where they must be placed on their sides in stacks. Usually, there is some sort of fork lift or jack that is used to lift the barrels but often they must be tipped over by hand to be stored on the pallets.
Various types of apparatus have been proposed for handling industrial materials stored in drums or barrels. An example of such an apparatus is shown in Schroeder, U.S. Pat. No. 1,935,891. The Schroeder system is a barrel tipping apparatus and, as such, retains many of the disadvantages of the methods discussed above because it is configured to handle the barrels end-up. The object of the Schroeder device is to transfer barrels which may be found in a horizontal rolling axis position to an end-up position. A drum lifting apparatus is shown in Sylvest, U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,475.
The present invention provides a material handling system that overcomes the problems inherent in prior art systems and enables a user to store and maintain heavy drums or barrels of material in a safe and economical manner. The material handling system includes a frame supporting a horizontally extending axle. A rotatable superstructure is rotatably mounted to the axle. The rotatable superstructure is generally circular and includes a plurality of spaced apart horizontal support rod members which are generally parallel to the axle and are arranged about the outer circumference of the rotating superstructure. Engagement clips attached to each of the support rod members are sized and configured so as to grasp the rims of metal storage barrels. The clips extend from points near the central portions of the rods to out past the ends of the barrels. The weight of the barrels forces the clips into snug engagement with the barrel rims. Thus, the barrels are held on a rotating wheel-like structure which may be motor driven to cause the frame to rotate about the horizontal axle.
A flat-bed lift apparatus supported by casters or wheels holds barrels which are laid in a horizontally axially extending configuration. The barrels may then be lifted by a hydraulic jack attached to the flat bed for easy engagement by the engagement clips. Lowering the jack will leave the barrels suspended from the clips, and the wheel may then be rotated so that the next barrel may be either removed or attached to the storage wheel. The engagement clips may be metal pieces or heads which are swaged onto the end of a steel cable. The cable may be threaded through portions of the horizontal support rods to exit at apertures so that the cables extend outwardly from the central portions of the support rods. In this way, when the clips engage the rims of the steel barrels friction imparted by the heavy weight of the barrels holds the rims of the barrels securely onto the clips.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.